Belgium

Rumsfeld tells NATO to go on offensive against terror

The NATO alliance, a defensive bulwark against conventional armies, must take the offensive against shadowy terrorists intent on attacks more devastating than Sept. 11, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told NATO colleagues Thursday.

Pre-emptive military strikes against Iraq or any other nation suspected of aiding terrorist networks were not discussed at the NATO meeting, officials said.

Defense ministers did endorse the idea that terrorism is a threat for which they are inadequately prepared, and they vowed to get better.

“Awareness of the new risks that threaten us all must lead to a real will to push through the changes,” said French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.

Pakistan

Talk with Musharraf gives envoy hope for defusing crisis

After meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for nearly two hours, a senior American envoy said Thursday that he was encouraged about the prospects for defusing the crisis that has brought this nation and neighboring India to the verge of war.

“President Musharraf has made it very clear he’s searching for peace, that he won’t be the one to initiate war, and I’ll be looking hopefully for the same kind of assurances tomorrow in New Delhi,” Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage told reporters Thursday.

A senior Pakistani official close to Musharraf described the talks as “a very positive exchange of ideas.”

Armitage made his comments on the first day of a brief trip to South Asia.

Los Angeles

Wildfire threatens power lines

A wildfire raging across 15,000 acres in Los Angeles County burned at least five homes Thursday and forced about 2,000 people to flee the area, fire officials said.

At one point, the blaze threatened to trigger rolling blackouts as it burned under power lines supplying Southern California, said Paul Klein, spokesman for Southern California Edison. But the threat of blackouts passed by evening as the fire began to burn away from the lines.

About 2,000 people in the rural Green Valley area about 10 miles north of Santa Clarita were ordered to leave, said inspector Armando Carrillo of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.